Nemesis
by HockeyRocks
Summary: Caitlin Todd died on that rooftop and he had to admit a part of him died with her. If you read the story, please review as well!
1. Prologue

**Nemesis**

By HockeyRocks, 2009

Pairing: Some Kibbs eventually, but it probably won´t be easy for them.  
Spoiler: Well, Twilight isn´t much of a spoiler anymore, right?  
Disclaimer: NCIS and all the related characters belong to DPB, no copyright infringement intended.  
Warnings: This is completely AU, set one and a half year after Twilight.

Prologue

"Ari Haswari was seen in Northern America, officer Levi." Eli David stated and glanced at the brunette who was standing in front of his desk. Her posture tensed slightly, but visibly nevertheless and he shot her a scrutinizing look. He didn´t doubt Sara Levi´s abilities for a second, but he wasn´t entirely convinced if she was the right one for this after all she had history in the United States just like his son. "Ziva will help you."

"Does she know that he is there?" The officer asked and the older man shook his head vehemently, letting Sara wonder why he didn´t tell his daughter about the arrival of her half-brother yet.

"I´m not sure yet if I actually tell her who your new charge is. It could risk everything in case she lets something essential slip in front of the team she is currently working with. Haswari could submerge again and do God knows what." Eli explained and the younger woman nodded, trying to look unaffected. "In addition I don´t know what this NCIS agent would do."

"Do we know what he is up to?" She asked in a neutral tone, effectively changing the topic to one she was more comfortable with. "Or more important do we know for whom he is working at the moment?"

"He is after Ziva´s boss, special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs again, at least that is what we suspect. Other things had top priority for him the past 18 months." The Mossad director answered her first question and paused for a moment before he went on to ask her second question. "Last thing we know is that he was working for us, but now he is working in America on his own. Pays everything with his own money and he completely stopped communicating with his control officer, this is his personal vendetta. It´s your job to keep him under control Mossad doesn´t need him killing an American citizen."

"Maybe Ziva should know then. What if Ari comes too close to them? Somebody has to know to protect them." Sara asked and Eli nodded, shifting papers in front of him from one pile to another.

"That is something for me to worry about. You´ll leave the country in thirteen hours from Tel-Aviv airport. I´ll let you know until then if Ziva is informed that this is about Haswari or not." The older man said and his tone made it quite clear that he didn´t want to discuss the issue further with her.

Sara just nodded and quickly left the office of her director to go straight home and get everything organized for her trip overseas. It wasn´t her first trip for the Mossad though she only worked for the agency for one and a half year, but the first trip overseas and knowing that Ari was her charge didn´t do much to calm her down either. This could become really difficult, but she trusted Eli David enough by now and she was sure that he had his reasons to put her of all his available agents on this mission.

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A/N: I hope you are interested in more though this is only short. Please notice that it probably takes a while for the first Chapter (which is going to be longer, I promise) to be published. Anyways please review and tell me what you think as always.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter I

"_I'm out." Gibbs said and unloaded his gun only to reload it after a few seconds in swift motions._

"_Me, too." The female agent replied loudly so her co-workers would hear and cover her, starting to shout mere seconds later while she was sprinting towards her boss. "Shooter!"  
__  
In a split decision Kate jumped and dived through the air, her Secret Service training kicking in. Just in time to take the bullet which was meant to hit her gray-haired boss. Both male agents jumped to life and tried to take aim at the invisible shooter.  
_

"_Kate? Are you okay?" Tony´s concerned voice was heard as soon as they were assured that nobody was shooting at them for the moment. She opened her eyes and recognized that her boss and co-worker were hurrying over to see how she is doing or if she was seriously injured._

"_Ow! I just got shot at point blank range, DiNozzo. What do you think?" The brunette answered his question with an ironic undertone, groaning loudly as soon as she moved only the slightest bit.  
_

"_You're not going to your Pilates class tomorrow?" The Italian replied jokingly and helped his female fellow agent stand up again, smiling at her in a honest and reassuring way.  
_

"_Protection detail is over." Jethro jumped into the conversation, looking straight into Caitlin´s dark brown eyes.  
_

"_You did good." Tony spoke up again and Caitlin couldn´t help but crack a smile at her partner´s compliment._

"_For once, DiNozzo is right." The silver-haired man confirmed the Italian´s statement and his deep blue eyes were twinkling friendly, but at the same time showed that he was relieved that she was okay._

"_Wow. I thought I'd die before I ever-" She couldn´t end the sentence because a gunshot rang out, hitting her right on the forehead. It seemed to take hours until she hit the ground, dead. Gibbs and DiNozzo instinctively aimed at the direction were the bullet came from, trying to make out the sniper´s nest and take him down before he could move on to shooting them too._

As soon as the shot rang out he woke up, his whole body covered in cold sweat and he knows that he won´t fall asleep again this night. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying desperately to erase the pictures, which are slowly becoming distorted by his memory, from his mind and assuring himself that the situation was over. That he never had to go through this situation again because it already happened one and a half year ago. Caitlin Todd died on that rooftop and he had to admit a part of him died with gray-haired man kicked the small part of the sheet which was still covering him back and stood up, slowly making his way downstairs into the basement. On his way he glanced at the clock and quickly calculated that he barely slept six hours. At least that was more than the four hours last night, he thought and opened the door, calming down a great deal while he went toward his unfinished sail boat.

Gibbs took the sander and expertly changed the sanding paper before he put his weight against it to smooth the wood. He didn´t know why the dream returned a few weeks ago. It had been gone for more than a year, but since then his record was sleeping eight hours in a row. A week after he had the dream again for the first time Ducky asked him if everything was alright and he had lied at the older man, saying that he was okay. The medical examiner had just furrowed a questioning brow, but said nothing. After all he knew that Jethro wouldn´t say anything if he asked again, the investigator would only close up even more.

The continuing action of sanding his boat was utterly calming for the former Marine. In two hours he needed to get ready for work and just hoped that they would catch a case today. At least that would be something to distract him from thinking about that dream and keep him awake at least.  
Jethro continued sanding until it was six in the morning and he decided he could hit the shower now, knowing that he would be too early in the office nevertheless, but quite frankly he didn´t care. An hour later Gibbs pulled the front door close behind him and walked over to his car, zooming out of his drive-way a moment later. Before he drove to the NCIS headquarters he stopped at his favorite coffee dealer to get an extra large and strong black coffee.

"Morning boss." Timothy McGee mumbled and strode into their cubicle, putting his stuff into the cabinet and starting his computer in silence. A few minutes later Ziva showed up and sat down behind her desk, Kate´s former desk, as well. By now everyone could cope when someone spoke of the brunette, unlike just after her death when the mood turned pretty tense when her name came up.

"Sorry boss, but there broke a water pipe and the whole street was flooded. Nobody could go through it and it took like hours to get out of the jam." DiNozzo explained and hastily sat down on his chair. Jethro just shot him a glare which made the Italian shut up and start his work without any further explanation for his late arrival.

"Gear up, we have a new case." The silver-haired man ordered after two hours and everyone was relieved that they were saved from spending another day in the office, doing nothing than paperwork.  
Just Ziva was every now and then disappearing upstairs to the director in the last few days, refusing to justify her absence in front of Tony when he asked her. Gibbs would snap at his male agent to continue with his own reports, but couldn´t help but wonder as well why the Mossad officer kept seeing Shepard. He had considered asking Jen, but dismissed it. If it was top secret she wouldn´t tell him anyways and if it was affecting their work she would come to him of that he was sure.

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So, this is the first Chapter of "Nemesis" longer than the Prologue. Please don´t forget to review on your way out. =)


	3. Chapter 2

So here is the next Chapter, again slightly shorter but well it has to work and I hope I can get the next Chapter up soon.  
KatePhelan: I´m glad you liked the last Chapter and I hope you won´t be disappointed with this one.  
hotchner: Well, it is not Ari who will disrupt the process and no Ducky. I´m sorry... But Ducky helping Gibbs is a good idea nevertheless.  
meherm: What can I say? Here you go. =)

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Chapter II

The brunette woman was following the Mossad officer across the city for a few days now. For the time he spent here he didn´t make a move towards Gibbs or one of his team-members, except for watching Gibbs what was a little disturbing for Sara. She had counted on an immediate strike, entirely forgetting about Ari Haswari´s patience and his habit to plan every little detail of his deed before taking action. Right now he was in Jethro´s garage and she knew she had to go in after the dark-haired man vanished into the darkness again, to make sure there wasn´t anything set up. Impatiently she waited for Haswari´s departure and searched the room as soon as he did so.

Her heart was racing while she was looking for any kind of traps, afraid that Gibbs could decide to come home while she was in here. When she was satisfied that there was nothing, the younger woman left the garage just like she found it and vanished into the darkness as well. She had to track her target down again before the night was over. It was her job to always know where he was, since he wasn´t giving any details of his location away when he called her to report to Mossad. He was flying under the radar and he was quite good at it just like he had always been. After all he was able to get rid of the FBI and she knew perfectly well that none of the federal agents knew that he was in America again.

Her cell phone started vibrating in her pocket and wondered who would call her at this time. It wouldn´t be Ari since he was calling her everyday at exactly the same time, telling her that he was currently enjoying the sun on a beach in New Zealand and she acted like she believed it, just like they didn´t found out that he was in the United States of America. "Yes?"

"Officer Levi, it´s Ziva David." The brunette exhaled and was glad that she would get some help now, just like the director promised her. "Director David just called me and told me that you are here to monitor Ari and I was asked to help you out with anything."

"Okay. That are the first good news I heard for a really long time." The female officer replied and started walking through the dark and almost deserted streets of Washington D.C..

"Do you need help with anything?" Ziva asked and Sara smiled to herself in relief. She had waited for this call since she lost Haswari for the first time right on the second day she was here. An agent in Tel-Aviv had to locate his cell phone and she found him in cheap motel just out of D.C., but it would take less time if someone in the area would track him down. Someone with equipment and the knowledge how to search for a certain cell phone.

"Yeah, it would be helpful if you could locate him for me. After he left special agent Gibbs´ house I went in to see if he set anything up and in that time he vanished." Levi explained and heard the director´daughter I´ll give you the number of his phone."

"Alright, it might take two hours or something, but I promise I´ll find him." The Israeli replied and wondered how much Sara Levi knew about her and her relationship to Ari. At Mossad it was a well-known fact that she was the director´s daughter, but only very few people knew that Ari Haswari was her half-brother who used to and was used to infiltrate Hamas. Though he was born in Arabia her father kept him close and raised his children together until he sent his son to Edinburgh Medical College to get a higher education, while Ziva herself was trained to become a Mossad officer.

"Good. Call me when you got him. I´ll try to find him on my own." Sara replied and the women hung up. Just like Ziva Sara was wondering how much the other woman knew about her. Did the Israeli know about the history she had her in Washington or was she clueless like her half-brother? Along with the information that Ziva would help her here Eli David told her that Ari and Ziva were half brother and sister to avoid any nasty surprises.

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As always reviews, please?! =)


	4. Chapter 3

Somehow I screwed the tenses up in this Chapter. I re-read it and I hope I got everything, if not feel free to point it out. Anyways I hope you´ll like this Chapter.  
meherm: Well, you have to wait a little longer until the team gets to know about her.  
wiccanforever: Your guess is right, but wasn´t it easy?^^ And you don´t have to wait anymore until she meets Gibbs.  
Thanks to you for the reviews I really appreciate them.

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Chapter III

In the following night Gibbs awoke with a start, but this time it wasn´t because he was going through his bete nôire again, this time he could swear he heard someone open his front door. Though his eye-sight was deteriorating, his hearing was still good if not getting better with every year which passed.  
Once again he fell asleep beneath his unfinished boat, but right now he was wide awake, listening for more noises. When he heard something like soft steps, he reached for his backup gun which he always kept in one of the wooden cabinets in his basement and slowly made his way up the stairs, careful to avoid the steps which were creaking. Slowly he pushed the door open, praying that the hinges won´t squeak this time. As soon as he exited the basement he scanned his surroundings for an intruder, his gun drawn just like he was searching a suspect´s house with his team.

The familiar movements made him feel a lot safer and in-control of the situation, though he slowly starts to wonder if this wasn´t stupid or if he was overreacting. Still he left the gun in place, ready to shot at anybody who was threatening him. A minute later he stood in the kitchen, starting the coffee machine, his gun tucked into his waistband, assured that he finally started hearing things. But then he heard the terrace door being slid open a sound which was definetely real. The NCIS agent started sprinting towards the living room, reaching for his gun while running. Just when he entered the room he spotted a black-clothed figure closing the glass door from the outside. With four long steps he reached the door and yanked it open again, stepping out on the wooden porch. Before he spoke the investigator aimed at the intruder´s head. "Freeze!"

The person in his garden stopped abruptly, slowly raising his hands in surrender and showing the agent that he won´t try anything. Still aiming at the figure´s head Gibbs took a few steps back, turning the small lamp on so he could make out his opponent more clearly. The intruder was still standing motionless in his backyard, hands raised whilst Jethro´s eyes needed a moment to adjust to the semi-darkness. The longer he stared at the human being in his backyard the more he was able to make out. By then he was almost a hundred percent sure that the pick lock standing there was a woman.

"Come over, slowly." The older man ordered in a steely tone and the black-clothed person started walking towards the porch. As soon as he could really see his opponent´s face he almost dropped his weapon, completely taken aback by what he saw. "Who are you?"

"You´re really disappointing me now, Gibbs." She replied in a light tone and lowered her hands, still walking over to the gray-haired man. If her imagination isn´t making fun of her, she saw a small quiver going through the older investigator´s hand which was still holding onto the gun and aiming at her face. "Could you please lower the gun now? I won´t hurt you."

He still couldn´t believe who is walking towards him. It had to be his overtired mind, cracking some sick jokes to torture himself. Gibbs slowly contemplated her words and put his gun down, still staring at the dark-clothed woman in front of him in complete disbelief. The agent was tempted to pinch himself only to discover that he was dreaming at the moment, imagining that she was back that he wasn´t all alone anymore. "Thanks that makes me feel a lot more comfortable."

"Is that really you…" He started, but paused before he went on, afraid that she would vanish every second or that his voice would break. "…Kate?"

She just nodded and took a few more steps forward, finally reaching up to cup his stubble covered cheek with her small hand. The younger woman had never seen Jethro Gibbs looking so confused and unsettled, even vulnerable before. He looked like he needed the touch to let himself believe that she was really there, standing on his porch and touching his cheek. After a while he reached out and pulled her into him. Caitlin let him though knowing that this might be a huge mistake, but she can´t help. As much as he had to make sure that she was real, she had to feel alive again.

"Am I dreaming? Why are you here? Where have you been? I thought you…" He paused again, forcing himself to say it. "You died on that rooftop."

Kate sighed and bit her lower lip. She should have ran away when he heard him come out of the basement, but she couldn´t though she knew she had to leave him again nevertheless. She had to talk to him even it was just for a short moment. "No, you aren´t dreaming, Gibbs. I´m sorry I can´t tell you anything. I have to go."

"Kate-" He started, but she cut him off and stood on her tiptoes to softly kiss his cheek before she pulled completely away from him, immediately feeling cold as soon as his arms dropped to his sides again.

"I have to, Gibbs. You can´t do anything and please don´t try to find me." The woman said and slipped into the darkness again before he could try to get a hold of her again or say anything. This had been far too close, everything would get quite dangerous if not impossible from now on. By now his nemesis probably knew that she was there, that he didn´t kill her one and a half year ago on top of that warehouse.

Gibbs on the other hand was still surprised and stunned that Kate appeared on his porch that she had obviously been in his house. The distant rustling of the branches of the hedgerow which was surrounding his backyard told him that she was gone again and he could head-slap himself that he didn´t hold onto her, that he let her leave him again. At the same time he wondered when it became an obligation for her to stay with him or at least close to him, but he didn´t care actually after all she vanished again and he would probably see her never ever again.

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It´s only a little click for you... Please review =)


	5. Chapter 4

meherm: There is hope, yes but first she has to go through something and well probably it is not Gibbs who finds her.

wiccanforever: You can find out about that a bit more in the fifth Chapter.

hotchner: I´m glad you like the story and thanks a lot for the praise.

Thanks again for reviewing. I hope you like the next Chapter, though it is a little more dramatic than the ones before.

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Chapter IV

"It is a pleasure to meet you again, special agent Todd or should I call you officer Levi? I will let you choose." The brunette froze immediately and an ice-cold shudder went through her whole body when she matched the voice she heard behind her back to a face she knew too well. "After all I thought I ended your life one and a half year ago. You have to believe me this step hadn´t been easy for me at any time. It was extraordinarily hard to take the life of such a beautiful woman like you, Caitlin."

The brunette exhaled one last time to calm herself before she turned around and faced him, immediately noticing the muzzle of a Sig Sauer pointing at her head. The dark-haired man was smiling brightly at her, but his dark eyes told her a whole different story. Those kind brown eyes which saved him in the morgue years ago and once again it dawned to her that she really should have stabbed him back then, kind eyes or not. When Kate finally started speaking the irony was dripping from her voice. "I´m very sorry that I´m not as happy as you are to see you again."

"What a shame." Ari replied and the grin disappeared slowly. His facial features hardened and a dangerous expression replaced the friendly one he was sporting before. The next sound she heard was the door closing with a thud and the lock clicking shut. "I have to admit I believed your story at first, officer Levi. But then I recognized your voice, I mean how could I forget your beautiful voice, Caitlin. Right I couldn´t and now I wanted to assure that it is really you."

The dark-haired man ended his monologue and slowly started walking towards the shorter woman. Automatically her hand went to her hip, counting to find her gun there, but there was nothing. Haswari must have seen her shock because he chuckled lowly, his brown eyes sparkling at her. She knew he must be ecstatic because he was completely in control of the situation. After all he found her in the cheap motel in a suburb of Washington and was able to come in without her noticing it until he wanted her to know. But the thing which must be giving him the greatest kick had to be the fact that he had a weapon and she didn´t have one. Her service gun was locked in the nightstand. "It was only a matter of time until you would go to special agent Gibbs, I just accelerated it. I knew you would try to protect him if you suspected I was setting something up."

"It is a part of my mission to protect anyone who is in danger because of you." She stated and tried to erase anything from her voice which could reveal that she indeed had been concerned about Gibbs´ safety not only because it was a part of her mission. "By accident this person was agent Gibbs."

"Liar." He barked and inched even closer, his weapon still pointing at its aim. Kate backed away but hit the wall with her back and he smirked. "I have to apologize, this was a bit harsh. You are not telling the truth, Caitlin. You can´t lie to me, not about this since I saw you in his backyard. You thought I left, but I stayed. Hidden of course. I truly doubt that you would have reacted the same way if it was agent DiNozzo standing there or doctor Mallard."

"You don´t know that." The brunette replied icily and her eyes were sparkling with rage now. A look Gibbs would have been proud of. Deep down she knew that he was probably right, but she didn´t want to let him know that. "What do you want Ari?"

The dark-haired man glared back at her and in one swift motion he had twisted her arm behind her back, putting her into a position in which she couldn´t defend herself. She couldn´t repress a squeak because of the pain he caused her and she heard his self-satisfied chuckle shortly afterwards. "The only thing I want is ending what I began on the rooftop. Special agent Gibbs suffered when you died Caitlin, but this time it is going to be worse since he knew you were actually alive."

Kate huffed and felt the cold steel of his Sig Sauer pressed on the base of her skull, she knew it was pointless to scream for help even if anyone heard her she would be dead and he would be gone by the time someone got into the room. Overpowering him was equally senseless because of the position she was in, dislocating her shoulder wouldn´t be the best start to begin a fight with him and she was quite sure that he was good in close combat. Finally she closed her eyes in defeat and waited for him to pull the trigger, still praying to God that he would save her in the last moment.

"Drop the gun, Ari!" A female voice ordered harshly and Kate could feel the man move behind her, finally dragging her so she was facing the door. A black-haired woman was standing in the threshold, taking aim at Haswari´s chest and staring at the tall man. "Drop it now!"

"You don´t dare to shoot me, Ziva." He replied self-confidently and grinned at the younger woman. When he mentioned Ziva´s name Caitlin´s eyes flew open and she had the slightest hope again that she wouldn´t die, at least not today. The former NCIS agent looked up at the other woman and she searched her face for any sign that she would back out. "You don´t want agent Todd to die."

Ziva was still focusing on Ari, her eyes leaving his not for the fracture of a second. A short moment later a shot rang out and Caitlin´s arm was released. The brunette heard the double agent´s gun drop to the floor and grabbed it before she turned around and saw what actually happened to her attacker. The Israeli´s bullet hit him on the chest just under his right shoulder and at the very moment he was clutching his black shirt, desperately trying to apply pressure on the badly bleeding wound. "Call an ambulance, Ziva."

When the black-haired woman didn´t react at all the brunette stormed over to the nightstand and grabbed her own cell phone, hastily dialing 911. When the EMTs arrived Ari was lying on the floor lifeless he had passed out a few minutes earlier, but at least the bleeding had stopped after Ziva snapped out of her haze and darted through the room to stop the blood with her bare hands. The men pushed the Israeli woman aside and barely ten minutes later Ziva was with them in the ambulance, accompanying her half-brother to the hospital and leaving Kate to report the latest incidents to director David.

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Well, so much for the fourth Chapter. Tell me what you think!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter V

It had been raining for six days in a row now and slowly everyone was afraid that the streets would be flooded. Gibbs didn´t really care about the rain since he and the team hadn´t spend much time outside the office. Four weeks passed since Caitlin showed up on his porch that night and slowly the idea that it had been a hallucination became more and more likely to him.

The day after she appeared had been awful. DiNozzo tried to get any information from him as soon as he entered the bullpen, too late and without the mandatory coffee. He had snapped at the Italian that he was fine and Tony backed off, afraid that the gray-haired man would bite his head off if he said anything else. Against his own better judgement and though the boring paperwork for their case, he had respected her wish and didn´t start looking for her. On one hand he knew it was pointless because she would go by an alias and on the other hand she must have her reasons to ask him to not look for her.

Now he was once again sanding his boat to distract himself from work and occasionally sipping his Bourbon from an old mug. Ducky showed up here the day before to give him some company after they solved the case they had been working on for the past four weeks. Jethro let him in and kept up with the older doctor for two hours before he apologized to his friend and went into the basement to work on his boat. Finally the investigator got up and climbed the stairs to go into the kitchen and start the coffee machine.

"You should really lock your door, Gibbs." The agent tensed and was tempted to wave it off as another hallucination, but when he heard water dripping on the floor tiles he turned around slowly. This time he wasn´t as surprised as the last time when he saw that it was Kate. He had recognized her voice nevertheless, but seeing her was a different story.

"Why?" The gray-haired man replied and her smile faded. She knew that he wasn´t asking why he should lock his door, but why she made them think that she died. Talking about that would be difficult, but this time it wasn´t a mission gone wrong that he saw her in his house, discovered that she actually was pretty much alive and didn´t die on the rooftop more than a year ago.

"For you and the others." Caitlin replied and his brow shot up, questioning her like he used to do it in the past. "Uh do you have something for me to change into? I don´t want drip all over your place."

Jethro nodded and for the first time he really recognized the small amount of water pooling around her feet now. "Hang on a minute."

The brunette remained in the kitchen suddenly self-conscious if showing up here had been the right idea. Right now Gibbs seemed to be not really happy about her standing in his kitchen and she doubted it was only because her clothes were dripping on his tiles. A few moments later the senior field agent returned carrying a pile of clothes. He handed her his red hooded-sweater and grey track suit pants, pointing at a door just opposite the kitchen door. "Guest room´s over there."

When the door clicked close behind her Gibbs ran a hand over his face and sighed. This was more than unexpected and he didn´t know what he would do if she left again, but on the other hand it didn´t really look like she wanted to leave again soon. Last time on his porch she had been nervous and tried to get away from him as soon as possible, but tonight she had entered his house, knowing that he was awake and would see her. The agent was pulled out of his thoughts and Kate reappeared in the hall, almost swimming in his way too big clothes. "Are you going to leave again?"

His tone was harsh just like his whole attitude and she couldn´t blame him for it, she probably would have reacted the same way when he was the one to show up after she buried him one and a half year ago. "If you want me to leave I will go, if not I will stay."

"Good." He stated curtly and did what she at least expected from Leroy Jethro Gibbs. The agent took a few steps towards the shorter woman, closing the gap completely when he claimed her lips. At first the petite brunette was stunned by his action, but after a few seconds she relaxed and responded to his kiss. They only broke apart when the need for oxygen became too much for them. "I won´t let you anyways."

The brunette just smiled up at him, knowing that hearing this from Gibbs was like he declared his love for her if not better. Kate tiptoed and this time it was her who captured his lips for a second kiss. Before it could lead them anywhere Jethro´s cell phone started vibrating in the pocket of his faded jeans and he frowned when he saw that it was Ziva calling him. "Yes?"

"I have to talk to Sar-… Kate." The Israeli demanded and the lines in the investigator´s forehead deepened. "It´ll only take a second."

"Ziva needs to talk to you." Jethro said and handed the phone to the brunette with a puzzled look on his face. He would have questions, heaps of them and she would answer them, but right now she had to hear if Ziva had news and most important which news she had.

"He flat-lined in hospital, CPR was ineffective. It´s officially over and you´ll receive new orders soon, I just talked to the director." The officer explained and Caitlin could hear the slight quiver in her voice though she tried to hide it. After all Ari had been her half-brother and they were pretty close, though Ziva spent the past one and a half year in America. Kate knew that Ziva would be hurting pretty bad. "They´ll take his body home as soon as the autopsy was performed."

"I wish I could say I´m sorry for him, Ziva." The brunette replied and could feel Gibbs´ eyes on her. Before Ziva called he was controlled by his emotions and forgot about questioning her, but now he would start as soon as she ended the call. "See you then."

The former NCIS agent ended the call and closed the cell phone, handing it back to Jethro who was indeed staring at her with the questioning look she knew so well. "You know I have some questions, don´t you?"

The brunette nodded and Jethro inhaled before he started speaking again. "Is Ari dead now?"

"Yes, he is dead now."

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	7. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

"You said you di-… went away for us. I still don´t get why." Jethro asked outright and gave her a puzzled look, still having trouble to voice his thoughts, but at the same time he was hoping that she would know what he was trying to say. "We would have been able to get rid of Ari by ourselves, without this sacrifice."

Caitlin looked into his deep blue eyes and shook her head slowly. "No, one of us would have died because he wanted that and to take me out of my life was the only option we had to protect you and the rest of the team. Certainly it wasn´t the best option I know that better than anyone else, but obviously it worked. We decided that letting you die in a car-accident or something would have been too obvious. Ari would have known that it was too much of a coincidence."

"Who is this `we´?" The gray-haired man replied after a short pause to process what he just heard.

"Deputy director Morrow for Homeland Security, NCIS director Shepard and director David from Mossad, well and I of course. It was more like a split decision than a well-prepared plan." The brunette explained and the older man knew that she couldn´t tell him everything because huge parts of her mission were top secret and even for him off-limits. "The only thing that counted was that none of you got hurt or worse killed. We succeeded at that, but lost Ari afterwards. It took months to locate him again and to make sure that he didn´t turn into a traitor or started working for anyone else."

Kate deliberately left out the fact that Ziva had been Ari´s control officer at the time he was trying to hunt them down in case Gibbs didn´t know about this yet. It would probably only cause mistrust in the team which wasn´t necessary since Haswari was dead now. "So why did you show up here? At my house you had to know that I would see you sooner or later."

"When we found him I was placed as his control officer. I found out that he was after you again so the director send me here to make sure that you were safe since we couldn´t tell you that you were in danger. If he had known that you were aware of anything, he would have submerged again and we couldn´t risk that." The female agent pointed out and the NCIS investigator threw her a confused look, somehow sensing that she wasn´t telling him everything. "He never saw me. We communicated over a secured phone or via ciphered emails. Everything else would have been too dangerous since he was still trying to infiltrate sleeper cells, at the same time we could avoid that he discovered that it was me."

The gray-haired man nodded and looked straight into her eyes, seeing that she was honest with him. He knew there was no point to question what she told him since she wouldn´t reveal top secret information anyways. "And now? What happens now, I mean are you going back to work with Mossad?"

"I don´t think so. After all I´m the reason why one of their most useful double agents was shot." She stated and and Jethro nodded. He didn´t feel the need to know who killed Haswari or how he died, the only thing which counted for him was that the bastard was dead and wouldn´t come back ever again, unlike Kate. He had missed her the past months and he had a really hard time to recover from the loss. Truth to be told he still didn´t heal completely and her sudden appearance caused an emotional turmoil. Of course he was happy that she was back, but at the same time afraid that she would leave again, go back to Israel or wherever she spent the last months. "I don´t know what I´ll do now, but I´m pretty sure that I´ll find something."

"Yeah…" The silver-haired man said and trailed off. He was fine for the moment with the information he got, if he wanted to know more he would call in a few favors and get the personal file she had under her alias. There was just one other question burning on his tongue, but his mouth was still refusing to form the words. "I saw you being shot on that rooftop and your body in the morgue. There was… There was a hole in your forehead and the back of your head… How could this look so damn real?"

"I assume you won´t be surprised if I told you that it was a fake, everything." The brunette stated and he nodded, chuckling for a second, before his features turned serious again. "Ari was firing with blanks and didn´t even know it. I had little bits of explosive attached to my head along with these blood thingies they use on TV. At the same time I took a drug which made my vital signs almost untraceable. Ducky never performed an autopsy because my will said I didn´t want it, he respected my wish and after all the COD was obvious."

"But the bullets we collected on the roof were real ones. There weren´t any blanks Abby would have noticed it." The older man said and frowned while the female agent nodded.

"Ari tried the rifle before. It was me who took the bullets and the coats, other agents switched the blanks on the rooftop with the ones I had. Illegal for sure, but necessary for the success of the operation. As soon as I was out of the morgue they put a perfect wax-replica of me into the coffin and sent me to Israel to start working with Mossad as officer Sara Levi. By the time you attended my funeral I was already looking for Ari all over the world." Caitlin explained and sighed when she felt like she had told him everything he wanted and needed to know. She knew all the information at once must be overwhelming, she didn´t feel any different when she was introduced to her new mission which resulted in a life as a Mossad officer.

"Well, you definitely succeeded at every point. I never thought anyone could trick the team and me like that." Jethro stated and Kate could hear a strain in his voice. She knew it must have been hard for everyone, after all they thought she died but it hadn´t been easy for her either. The brunette snapped out of her dark thoughts when she felt Gibbs´ arm coming to rest around her shoulders. He pulled her into his side and for the first time since she left Washington D.C. over a year ago she felt at home again.

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Reviewing, it just takes a click. Please tell me what you think.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

"Ouch, Abbs what did I do?" The brunette asked with a frown, but at the same moment she knew the answer to that question and rubbed the spot where the forensic pinched her. The blink of an eye later the Goth hugged her or better almost choked her, showing Kate in her very unique way how much she had missed her. Gibbs had agreed to take her to NCIS, though hesitantly, so Kate could see all her co-workers again and of course the brunette went to the lab first. She had missed the bubbly forensic all the time she had been travelling through the world always on Ari´s heels.

"Well, I just had to make sure that you´re real and that I´m not dreaming or hallucinating, after all you were gone for eighteen months and seven days and I didn´t really want to punch you." The black-haired woman explained her action and slowly released her friend from her firm hug. "But why are you here? Oh, don´t get me wrong that´s great, you could make a lot of money by the way, claiming that you were resurrected after all you have proof. Where have you been all the time? What did you do? Do the others know that you´re here, yet?"

"Good decision not to punch me, I strike back. I´m simply back for the moment and I hopefully get a job here at NCIS again. Yeah, certainly I could make a lot of money with this story, but no thanks I don´t want to talk too much about the last months." Caitlin said and paused, trying to remember all the questions Abigail voiced just a few seconds before. It was always the same when Abby was excited, she was speaking super-fast, but Kate had missed this character-trait as well. "Well, let´s say for now I was everywhere but in the States to track down Ari and make sure he doesn´t endanger anyone who is innocent. Final answer only Gibbs knows yet, but I´m here to say hi to all of you."

"Okay, but you know you eventually have to tell me everything later on, don´t you?" Abby asked and the brunette just nodded, hearing her friend squeal before she was caught in another hug. "What about we go and see Ducky? I guess you won´t answer any more question so we can as well visit the Duck-Man."

"Sure." The forensic just smiled and dragged her friend behind her into the morgue, where the older Scotsman was sitting behind his desk and obviously working on some autopsy report he had to fill in.

"Look who is here, Ducky!" Abbs stated and slowly the older man turned around, his eyes widening when he recognized Kate. Swiftly he stood up and made his way over to the women. He as well hugged the brunette and held her by the shoulders afterwards, giving her a quick once-over.

"Oh my, no offense, but for a dead person you look quite alive and well, Caitlin." The doctor said and both smiled at each other. Abby was standing next to them and bouncing on her footballs, not able to wipe the joyous grin off her face. "I´m truly glad everything had been fake all these months ago."

"Me too, Ducky, me too." The brunette replied and a single tear rolled down her cheek which was quickly wiped away by the medical examiner. She didn´t except that her `reappearance´ would be so emotionally exhausting. Foolishly she had believed that seeing Gibbs again would take the greatest toll, but the others were adding up and coming quite close. She didn´t dare to think yet how it would be to visit her parents and siblings. For now she was just glad that Ducky didn´t ask so many questions like Abby did before, he must have sensed that repeating her explanation over and over again would be too much. "Do you know if Tony and Tim are upstairs? I haven´t seen them yet."

"They are doing paperwork, since they are one agent short for the moment. I can call them to come down if you want." Donald suggested and the brunette just nodded. Meeting the boys here in privacy would be much better than attracting everyone´s attention upstairs. The curious glances when she came in with Gibbs earlier had been enough for the day, she knew perfectly well that she would have to deal with everyone looking at her and whispering behind her back for the next time and that was okay, just not today. "They´ll be down here in a minute. I assume Jethro already knows that you are back?"

"Yes, he knows." Caitlin answered and the doctor nodded knowingly. Barely sixty seconds later the steel doors whooshed open and the three male agents entered the morgue. The two younger men stopped dead in their tracks simultaneously, staring at the brunette as if she was a mirage.

"Did I finally started seeing things?" The Italian asked, suddenly not so self-confident anymore and looked over at his co-worker for confirmation. "Probie?"

"No you didn´t, Tony, I see her too." McGee replied and finally Jethro had enough, head-slapping both agents he grinned cheekily at Kate while the younger men protested. After what felt like an eternity Anthony remembered why they were in the morgue and went over to his former partner, poking his finger into her upper arm.

"No, definitely real." He said just like he still had to convince himself before he hugged her tightly.

"At least you didn´t pinch me." Caitlin stated and gave Abigail a smile, leaving everyone else to put the pieces together by themselves. The Italian released her after a few moments and stepped back to let Timothy go over while he went to the silver-haired man who was silently sipping his coffee just watching the unfolding reunion in front of him.

"I guess you knew everything from the very beginning, boss?" He asked and was mildly surprised when Jethro shook his head.

"Nope. I just found out lately." Gibbs answered curtly and his employee nodded slowly, knowing that he won´t get any more information than that. They chatted away for the better part of the next two hours, only to be interrupted when the supervisory agent threw his empty coffee cup into the bin and spoke up. "We have to get some work done today nevertheless."

"Ow no, Gibbs-Man Kate is back, you can´t make us work." Abigail protested and the gray-haired man smirked at the lab tech.

"I have to see director Shepard anyways. I can as well do it now and come down afterwards." Caitlin said and supported her boyfriend´s order that way. Obviously Abby wasn´t entirely content with that either, but went back to her lab while Gibbs entered the elevator with Tony, Tim and Kate. "I´ll wait in the lab for you after I talked to the director, okay?"

"Sure." The gray-haired man replied curtly and Anthony was looking from his supervisory agent to the brunette and back. Caitlin was already halfway up the stairs when he was finally able to voice his thoughts.

"She´s waiting for you?" Gibbs just arched an eyebrow and the younger man´s eyes went wide, his mouth forming a huge `O´. "Oh, no way. Not Kate… And you… No, that´s impossible, isn´t it?"

"What DiNozzo do you have any problems with it, if it is that way?" Jethro asked and his blue eyes sparkled dangerously at the Italian. Tony just cleared his throat, playing for time before he had to answer.

"Of course not. I´m just happy for you, boss and well I´ll finish my report now." He said and turned around, hurrying over to his desk. He missed Gibbs´ smirk while his face was still showing both shock and the forced smile he put on to convince the gray-haired man.

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	9. Epilogue

Epilogue

"_I'm out." Gibbs said and unloaded his gun only to reload it after a few seconds in swift motions._

"_Me, too." The female agent replied loudly, starting to shout mere seconds later while she was sprinting towards her boss. "Shooter!"_

_  
In a split decision Kate jumped and dived through the air. Just in time to take the bullet which was meant to hit her gray-haired boss. Both male agents jumped to life and tried to take aim at the invisible shooter.  
_

"_Kate? Are you okay?" Tony´s concerned voice was heard as soon as they were assured that nobody was shooting at them for the moment. She opened her eyes and recognized her boss and co-worker hurrying over to see how she is doing or if she was seriously injured._

"_Ow! I just got shot at point blank range, DiNozzo. What do you think?" The brunette answered his question, groaning loudly as soon as she moved only the slightest bit.  
_

"_You're not going to be going to Pilates class tomorrow?" The Italian replied jokingly and helped his female fellow agent stand up again, smiling at her in a reassuring way.  
_

"_Protection detail is over." Jethro jumped into the conversation, looking straight into Caitlin´s dark brown eyes.  
_

"_You did good." Tony spoke up again and Caitlin couldn´t help but crack a smile at her partner´s honest compliment._

"_For once, DiNozzo is right." The silver-haired man confirmed the Italian´s statement and his deep blue eyes were twinkling friendly, but at the same time showed that he was relieved that she was okay._

"_Wow. I thought I'd die before I ever-" She couldn´t end the sentence because a gunshot rang out, hitting her right on the forehead. It seemed to take hours until she hit the ground, dead. Gibbs and DiNozzo instinctively aimed at the direction were the bullet came from, trying to make out the sniper´s nest and flush him before he would move on to shooting them too._

Gibbs awoke with a start and inhaled deeply, staring up at the ceiling in an attempt to calm himself when he heard her voice from the other side of the bed. "What´s wrong?"

He sighed and turned around, facing Kate who was looking up at him with tired but at the same time concerned brown eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second before he trusted himself enough to speak, without revealing how much that dream actually bothered him. "I´m fine. Go back to sleep, Katie."

"Sure and I´m Santa Claus." She replied dryly and he grinned slightly. Gibbs forgot how well she knew him and how she always demanded the truth from him. This moment didn´t differ from others so he told her what was really bothering him.

"I just had a nightmare…" The gray-haired man just said and saw that she still wasn´t satisfied with that answer. Though she wanted to know about what he dreamt Caitlin knew that he would tell her and she didn´t need to ask. Instead of speaking up again she moved towards him and cuddled up against his chest, feeling his arms come to rest around her. "I saw you on the rooftop… And then the bastard pulled the trigger."

"But he didn´t kill me for real." The brunette stated confidently and felt her boyfriend´s nod. "I´m here with you, Jethro, and I´m not going to leave anytime soon."

"That´s good to know." He whispered and kissed the top of her head. The younger woman snuggled as close to him as humanly possible and slowly her breath evened out, the sign for Gibbs that she drifted off to sleep again. The older investigator was more than just glad that she was here with him, he knew that he wouldn´t be able to forgive himself if he let her go again, ever.

"You should really sleep now, Gibbs." The brunette mumbled and opened one eye to look up at her boyfriend. He just chuckled lowly and nodded.

"Sure thing, Katie."

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So much for Nemesis. I decided to post both the last Chapter and the Epilogue so this is completed. I hope you liked reading the story as much as I liked writing it. Take care, HR.


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